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98 Year Old Makes Amazing MS Paint Art

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While reading through a few articles on web, I came across a truly inspiring video. It’s about a 98 year-old man named Hal Lasko who creates amazing 8-bit style artwork using Microsoft Paint. Hal worked as a graphic artist when he was younger and he used to create his own unique typography by hand.

Hal started using Microsoft Paint later on in his retirement when his family introduced it to him around 2005. Hal has been spending hours upon hours every day since then creating his own unique artwork.

You can view more of Hal Lasko’s artwork at hallasko.com and for a deeper look into Hal Lasko’s world, you can head to WIRED.

Blizzard to Shut Down Diablo III Real Money Auction House

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D3RMAH

Blizzard Entertainment has sent out emails to Diablo III owners with a notice that they are going to be shutting down the real money auction house on March 18, 2014.

The new feature initially received quite a bit of criticism but seemed to be holding it’s own during the first few months of the games release. Over time, Blizzard has changed it’s view of how the real money auction house impacts the game and has decided that it “ultimately undermines Diablo’s core game play: kill monsters to get cool loot.” Below is the official notice. Your can also read Blizzard’s blog post about the closure.

“We are writing tell you about an important change to Diablo III: we’re going to be removing the gold and real-money auction house system from the game.

When we initially designed and implemented the auction house system, the driving goal was to provide a convenient and secure system for trades. But after much review and player feedback, it became increasingly clear that despite the benefits of the AH system and the fact that many players around the world use it, it ultimately undermines Diablo’s core game play: kill monsters to get cool loot.

We’re working out the details of how the auction house system will be shut down, but we wanted to share the news as soon as we made the decision in order to give everyone as much advance notice as possible. Please note that the final shutdown will occur on March 18, 2014. We will keep everyone informed as we work through this process, but feel free to check out our blog post on the subject, and stay tuned to Diablo 3.com for further details.

– The Diablo III team

Microsoft Offers $200 for your iPad

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Microsoft Surface Pro

Microsoft is trying to get you to part with your iPad in hopes that you will buy a Surface RT/Pro instead. You can bring in a used iPad 2, 3, or 4 and get a minimum of $200 on a gift card for use at the Microsoft store. Of course the offer can be used towards other Microsoft products as well, like Xbox or anything else that you fancy in the Microsoft store.

Microsoft has been ramping up it’s campaign against Apple as of late as it tries to gain some ground in the mobile device market. The Surface opened up to some pretty weak sales and unfortunately this trend has continued throughout the life of the product. Microsoft’s tablet has already seen a price cut, which is now permanent, and currently the RT version is selling for $349 while the Pro version is selling for $799.

Despite weaker sales numbers Microsoft does see a strong future for mobile versions of Windows and will soon be revealing Surface 2 to the world on September 23rd which will ship with Windows 8.1.

Microsoft Buys a HUGE Part of Nokia

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NokiaMSFT

According to the latest press release from Redmond, Washington, Microsoft has purchased substantially all of Nokia’s Devices & Services business, license Nokia’s patents, licenses and Nokia’s mapping services at a cost of about $7.2 billion.

This is a major deal that most of us were wondering if it was ever going to happen. This will put both companies in a win-win situation to push forward innovation and build upon the success that the two companies have seen while working together.

Microsoft has been switching gears lately and taking a more “Apple-like” approach to how they do business by being more in control of hardware, software and services. This business model isn’t new to Microsoft as they have done it before with Surface but many question how this will impact other devices that use Microsoft mobile software, as it could steer users away from other Windows Phone options. Ultimately, it’s a smart move by Microsoft that should put them in a much better position to compete with the iOS and Android platforms more directly.

You can read the official press release for full details on the acquisition.

How To Make an LED Cube

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This is a great build video for an 8x8x8 LED cube by Kevin Darrah that I stumbled upon on the web. It goes over the basic build techniques  and shows you how to utilize a jig for assembling the LED arrays. As you watch the video you will quickly begin to realize that this project is not for the entry-level builder, clearly this is something that will consume a lot of your time and patience but the end result is awesome. Either way, it’s interesting to see how it all comes together.Blue LED in a cube

There are many Arduino builds out there that can be great for beginners. If you’re not familiar with Arduino then I highly recommend that you read this introduction to Arduino, it covers everything you will need to get up-to-speed on what it’s all about.

You can find many projects in the Arduino Playground, they include schematics and code to help you build cool stuff. If you want to make a much more novice-friendly 3×3 LED Cube you can use these schematics and code.

So what are you waiting for? Find a project and get building!